


Welcome to the Magic: An Archer in Wonderland

by LA_Mannix



Series: The Disneyland Saga [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Come on, Gen, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash, it's Clint Barton, minimal angst, seriously minimal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 06:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LA_Mannix/pseuds/LA_Mannix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following on from part one, Clint and Phil have made it to Disneyland.</p><p>This is their day.</p><p>(NB: The following fic comprises of snippets of the day, rather than one long comprehensive recount of the day. I thought it would be better that way.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Magic: An Archer in Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> As mentioned in the summary, I wrote little snippets of their day at Disneyland rather than go through the boring mechanisms of writing them walking from place to place and scene to scene. That would bore even me.
> 
> This is part two, and I already have ideas for parts three and four if people are interested, involving Clint/Phil pairing (this fic moves them closer to that point, but I still classify it as pre-slash) and a return to Disneyland with the rest of the gang.
> 
> Sigh, this was originally just going to a one-shot just so I could post something to the site. I have become more involved in it than I thought haha. They have their hooks in me. I'd ask for help but I don't really regret anything.
> 
> Any thoughts or comments are more than welcome :D 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. This is purely for entertainment, non-profit purposes.
> 
> Any mistakes are mine.

“Barton, no.”

A sigh. “Can't you at least call me Clint while we're on holiday? People will think we have some weird power struggle goin’ on,” Clint said, looking carefully at Phil's reaction. Only years of observation had allowed Clint to see the minutiae of Phil’s facial expressions. It filled him with a warm feeling that he was probably only one of few that could catalogue them. Currently, the corner of Phil's mouth had lifted slightly in the 'you think you're so clever but I can kill you with my brain for bringing me to this place' smile. 

“Alright, Bart-Clint,” Phil replied. 

Clint smiled widely, “Great! Now after you.” He made a wide sweeping motion with his hands.

“Clint, no.”

Clint mock-pouted, “But I want to ride the teacups.” 

“I'm not stopping you.”

“Phil. I want to ride the teacups with you.”

Phil blinked. He adjusted his sweater before answering, “Why? No wait, don't answer that. Let’s just go.”

The pair made their way to the end of the teacup line. 

Clint groaned, “Oh my god, this is gonna take forever. It'll completely mess with my whole day plan.” He turned to Phil. “Alright, I'm sorry, we can go look around or something.”

Something must’ve been showing in his face (disappointment?) and it gave Phil a contemplative look.

“Wait here a moment.” Phil left the line and disappeared around the side.

Patience is a virtue, patience is a skill of an archer, patience is my friend, Clint thought to himself as he waited the 2 minutes it took for Phil to return. This day was not starting how he intended. 

He heard his name being called and turned around to find Phil smiling, actually smiling. Clint's stomach flipped uncomfortably.

“Sir?” He asked.

Phil replied, still grinning that ridiculously adorable (okay, when did that start becoming a descriptor for Phil? Clint thought) smile, “We're going on the teacups. Now. Let’s go.” He started to walk towards the front of the line.

Clint ducked under the ropes and hurried after him. “What? How?”

“Disneyland is wonderfully agreeable to law enforcement personnel here on a personal mission,” Phil said, in his usual calm voice. They reached the front of the line, so gloriously close to the teacups. Phil stopped and faced Clint.

“And Clint?” He said softly, gently, almost carefully, “it's Phil.”

All Clint could was laugh as they walked over to claim a teacup with the rest of the tourists. 

“Thank you,” he said, smiling. “I can't believe you lied to get me to the front, you, Phil Coulson, man of rules (Phil smirked as the ride started up)...thanks.”

“It's my holiday too,” Phil said. “And I didn't lie, I just...implied.”

They both said nothing for a while; just let the ride spin them around in their frankly too-tiny-for-two-grown-men teacup.

*********  
Clint eyes widened. He actually looked scandalised. “You brought a _gun_ to Disneyland?!”

“You'll be thanking me later when something inevitably goes wrong.”

Clint shook his head, “A gun. Can't you relax for just a couple of days? I just wanted us to-“

“To what?” Phil asked.

“To have fun for once! It's always save the world, or get shot, or get mind-whammied, or stabbed in the back with a sceptre by a crazy god. I've never been somewhere like this and I just thought it would be nice.” Clint took a breath. Crap, he thought. Now you've done it. 

The way Phil was looking at Clint was making him distinctly uncomfortable. Clint averted his eyes.

He felt more than heard Phil shift towards him. He pulled away and started to head towards the line for the haunted house.

“Let’s do this one,” Clint said, brightly. “I'm sure it's not that scary.” 

He didn't stop to see if Phil followed him. Phil never did.

Phil did, however, meet him at the exit of the haunted house after Clint had been grumbling to himself for the better part of an hour. Clint stopped before him.

Phil silently held out the hot dog and Mickey Mouse ears to Clint. He was already wearing his own.

“I already ate mine,” Phil said, “and I thought you might be hungry.”

Clint didn't take the items straight away and saw Phil's non-expression devolve into something a little more uncertain. 

Look,” Clint said, “I know I shouldn't care and I know this place is probably old news to you, you've probably been here with your family or on a stopover on a mission but-“

“I haven't, actually,” Phil interrupted softly, “I've never been here before. My family could never afford it. So this is new to me too.” Phil motioned between him and Clint with the hand not holding the ears and hot dog and for the first time since they had arrived, Clint thought he meant more than just the trip.

“Are you done being a dick?” Clint asked. He wasn't being petty, he wasn't. 

Phil smiled Smile #17: Fond Exasperation, “Yes. I'm sorry.”

“Well alright then,” Clint said, taking the Mickey Mouse ears, plopping them on his head and then grabbing the hot dog. “Let’s do Disneyland!”

***********  
It was with great strength of character and mind that Clint didn't push his handler into the tree outside the gift shop.

“I'm not wearing that,” he said.

Phil fixed him with a look that clearly said 'no, from the man who is wearing mouse ears?' “You are. You don't want to ruin my holiday do you?”

“You sneaky bastard,” Clint growled.

Phil just waited. Patience is a skill for an archer but it is an art form for Phil.

“If I am, so are you,” Clint finally said.

Phil unzipped his jacket, “Already done.” He removed his jacket completely now revealing the 'I’ll be your Minnie' t-shirt underneath. He held out Clint's. “I showed you mine.”

Clint snorted, “You look like an idiot.” 

Phil shrugged easily, “Vacation clothes. One is allowed to look like this. Plus it conceals my gun really well.”

“Oh. Well, uh, in that case,” Clint said, grabbing the novelty shirt. He wasn't entirely sure Phil was joking about the gun thing.

Clint took off his shirt and put the other on, making sure his ears didn’t fall off his head. He held out his arms and twirled. “So? How do I look?”

Phil actually stared at him hard. He ran his eyes up and down Clint's form as if the question were serious. Clint fought the urge to shiver. There was seriously something going on. Clint was determined to figure it out.

“Good,” Phil said, finally. He cleared his throat, “Dinner?”

“Oh my god, yes,” Clint exclaimed. “I am starving. The food here is awful.”

Phil laughed softly, “There's a restaurant across the road. We can come back in for the parade and the fireworks later.”

“They have fireworks?!” Clint would later deny that he squeaked that. Forever deny. 

**********  
Clint and Phil sat down at a table in the International House Of Pancakes across the road from Disneyland.

“Nice, pancakes for dinner!”

“Clint, you have cereal for dinner, how is this different?”

“How many times have I had cereal for dinner with Disneyland in my sights across the road?”

“Fair point. I’ll have what he’s having,” Phil said, firmly. The glint in his eyes told Clint that Phil knew exactly what he was referencing.

The waiter nodded and moved away.

****************  
Clint and Phil made it back to the centre of Disneyland just in time for the parade to start. They stood further back and slightly off centre to the crowd so that Phil could survey everything. Some things just couldn't be switched off during a vacation and Clint knew that Phil sometimes had trouble with that many people at his back.

Clint always saw better from far away and so he shifted away to the right. He glanced back at Phil as the first Disney characters made their way down the Main Street. Clint watched as Phil's expression changed from wary to content. 

There had always been something just under the surface of their relationship of handler/asset and then when they became friends. But that's just it, they were never just friends, and now Clint had to wonder if he was willing to take a risk that that something would be damaged. He glanced over at Phil again and saw the older man looking at him curiously. Clint gave a false smile and waved. Phil was obviously not impressed but stayed where he was. Clint knew that Phil trusted him but it was always a surprise when he saw it. It was hard to accept that someone could just trust Clint's judgement and leave him alone when he needed. Especially after Loki, the other agents still had trouble warming up to Clint. And he, them. He had needed this vacation, this chance to get away from them all, just as much as Phil, who was steadily working himself into the ground, trying to find a way to fix, fix, fix, the damage Clint (no, not Clint, _Loki_ ) had caused.

Clint risked another glance at Phil as Aladdin and Jasmine danced down the street. Phil looked happy and that decided it for Clint. He wouldn't risk that happiness on a hunch, on a feeling, on a sense that _he_ felt something more so why not Phil too?

Clint turned back to the parade.

*******

“We have some time left before the fireworks start, do you… Clint?” 

Clint startled, “Oh, sorry.”

“Are you okay?” Phil asked him. He ran his eyes quickly over the archer, looking for injury.

“Nah, I'm fine,” Clint said, schooling his features to reveal nothing. “Just a bit tired from the day, if you can believe that.”

Phil didn't reply, just hummed thoughtfully. 

“We should check Frontierland out again, if we have time before the fireworks,” Clint said. 

Phil nodded absently. He followed behind Clint as he headed in the direction of Frontierland. 

“I think all of the rides are closed though,” Phil finally said.

Clint looked over his shoulder, “So? It'll still be cool to look around.”

******

“There was a while there, when I was younger,” Phil began, as he and Clint sat on the front steps of the closed saloon, “when I wanted to be a cowboy.”

“And here I thought you always wanted to be Captain America,” Clint said with a smirk. 

“I never wanted to _be_ him,” Phil replied quietly, still looking ahead, “I wanted to be like him. He didn't like bullies.”

Clint really had no response to that. He glanced at Phil and saw the setting sun framing his face. He looked thoughtful.

 

Clint waited another moment before he said, “I wanted to be a cop. At least, there was a summer not long before the circus where I wanted to be a cop.”

Phil turned to him and smiled, “You would've made a good police officer.” 

Clint scoffed, “I probably would've shot all the bastards in my first day.”

“No, you wouldn't have. You're better than you give yourself credit for.”

And that, _that_ Clint really had no response to.  
*******

Clint told himself he wasn't excited. That he didn't push past a family of 6 for a better view and that he didn't drag Phil through to the exact spot.

He wasn't excited.

They were just fireworks.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the crowd.

The fireworks started.

Okay, Clint thought, they're pretty awesome.

He and Phil stood silently amongst the gasping and cheering crowd as the colourful fireworks burst into the sky. 

Clint could never quite recall later if it was Tinker Bell flying through the sky during the fireworks show or Phil gently taking his hand that made him gasp in surprise.

Clint looked at their joined hands and then at Phil. Phil kept his eyes on Tinker Bell but smiled Smile #3: Hopeful and Genuine Happiness. 

Clint grinned widely and turned back to the fireworks. Best vacation ever (even though they didn't do Space Mountain).


End file.
